It was during his college days that Babu Rajasekhar developed this penchant for doing "something novel" and hit upon the idea of playing the guitar holding it on his back.

Displaying a different talent

EVERYTHING IN the reverse holds good for him. Sounds strange? Look at his pet instrument, the guitar. It is a model in reverse. He plays it in the reverse direction too -- left. His uniqueness does not end here. He can play the guitar holding it on his back as well. And it this feat which attracts audience to his shows like bees to the honeycomb.

The "left" business is not an easy task. To suit his special talent, he has changed the string arrangements in his guitar completely. "In the right guitar, everything comes from the top to bottom and in mine it is from bottom to top," he shows his specially designed guitar, further revealing that he uses only the 12-string guitar against the normal practice of a 6-string guitar. "My guitar is exclusively for me only and no one else can play it", he challenges.

"I am basically a left hander. My first touch on the guitar, at the age of 13, was with my left hand and ever since I have completed 25 years. I don't find it unusual to play the guitar with the left hand," he says as a matter of fact.

College days

Recalling his college days, he shares how along with a group of eight classmates formed a troupe and started playing at wedding ceremonies and parties. "We started earning well and money cast its spell on us. We continued and our troupe, Play Boys, was born," he says.

It was perhaps the first ever students' troupe in American College, which also smelled money and popularity in equal measure. The best time came when the troupe clinched the top spot at the music competitions held in Regional Engineering College, Tiruchi, from 1983-85.

It was during his college days that Babu developed this penchant for doing "something novel" and hit upon the idea of playing the guitar holding it on his back. "It worked well and the first song I played in this style was the superhit "Aasai Nooru Vagai" from Rajnikanth's film "Adutha vaarisu."

Impressed by the scintillating performance, the then Pandiyan Roadways Corporation invited the troupe for a test performance. "Lady luck smiled again and seven members of our team got jobs in the corporation.

Another accolade was that we were made the official music troupe of the PRC."

Rocking the musical track, the orchestra fast became one of the best groups in the city.

Album on music therapy

Apart from his professional commitments, Babu has also released 150-odd cassettes. "Majority of them are Christian devotional songs. But, the one in which I recorded devotional songs from all religions is the most popular one," he says.

At present, Babu is working on an album called music therapy. "Its my magnum opus," he reveals with a glint in his eyes.

His lifetime ambition of course is to create waves in the celluloid industry. "Music is one medium through which you can reach from the "Rockefellers to the rickshaw-pullers," he believes.